Phillies vets Rollins, Utley tune out trade talk

Phillies vets Rollins, Utley tune out trade talk

Even though the media -- social, mainstream and otherwise -- is a abuzz with the potential for an active trade deadline for the Phillies, the players have been able to ignore most of the chatter.

Burrowed into a cocoon where TV and computers are used for watching video on hitting and pitchers, the trade chatter hasn’t filtered into the clubhouse.

Or so they say.

Though the stands are filled with scouts from opposing teams and the sports media continues to remain on alert for possible trades, old warhorses like Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley are living by the old clichés.

Just one game at a time.

“As baseball players, I’ve been around a little while and we really try to focus on that day and when that’s over you focus on the next day,” Utley said. “You try not to get distracted or get too high or too low and you really try to put your blinders on and stay focused.”

According to Rollins, the trade talk is more pronounced when the team is losing.

“It happens every year -- more so when you’re losing,” Rollins said. “When you’re winning they talk about who to bring in. I’ve been around it, [Utley has] been around it and it really has no affect on us.”

It’s fun for fans to make fantasy trades or pretend they are the general manager, Rollins said. But ultimately, the players like to concentrate on other things.

“It makes a little excitement around baseball, but inside the clubhouse it doesn’t change a thing,” Rollins said.

Rollins and Utley have been around, though. And, with 10-and-5 rights -- 10 years in the big leagues, five years with one team -- both players can veto any trade.

Lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo has been mentioned as a centerpiece in trades (see story), which is something he probably hasn’t heard much of.

Or maybe he has.

“I’m not that kind of person looking to see what’s going on around the league and stuff. I’m not into that," Bastardo said. “When I come in here I shut everything down. Everything is about baseball. That’s it.”

In other words, Bastardo has learned well from veterans Rollins and Utley.

Odubel Herrera appears to be headed to the disabled list

Odubel Herrera appears to be headed to the disabled list

SAN FRANCISCO — Odubel Herrera missed his third straight game because of a sore left hamstring Thursday night and it sounds as if he's headed to the disabled list.

"It's a day-to-day thing," manager Pete Mackanin said before the game against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. "He might be going on the DL. We're thinking about it."

Herrera, riding a 17-game hitting streak, injured the hamstring late in Monday night's game in San Diego and did not play Tuesday or Wednesday. The Phillies filled out their bench for Thursday night's game by bringing versatile utility man Pedro Florimon up from Triple A. To make room for Florimon on the 40-man roster, the Phillies designated reliever Pedro Beato for assignment.

The Phillies created room for Florimon on the active roster by sending starting pitcher Nick Pivetta to Triple A. That assignment should be brief as he is expected to come back and pitch in Tuesday's doubleheader against Miami (see story).

With Herrera out, Mackanin used rookie Nick Williams in center field. Another rookie, Rhys Hoskins, started in left and Hyun Soo Kim was in right field.

Mackanin said Herrera "still has some tenderness" in the hamstring and he was waiting for an update from the team's medical staff on whether to place the outfielder on the DL.